Government leaders upbeat about GPA

President Mugabe with Prime Minister Tsvangirai , left, and his deputy
Arthur Mutambara at Zimbabwe House in Harare Wednesday.

By Raymond Maingire

HARARE - President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai have
attributed the continued delay in the full implementation of the Global
Political Agreement (GPA) to efforts to balance the conflicting interests of
their constituencies and pressures from their respective parties.

President Mugabe said the current negotiating process was a painstaking
process which required repeated consultation with their parties and the
corresponding need to accommodate the demands of the other parties.

He said he fully understood the concerns of the other parties and would
strive to take them into consideration.

"It is with that in mind that you negotiate. You never negotiate with a view
that you will win everything," President Mugabe said during a joint press
conference soon after a meeting of the three principals signatory to the GPA.
The conference was held at Zimbabwe House Wednesday.

He said it was difficult to stick to any time-frames when negotiating, saying
negotiations were by nature laborious.

"You also don't negotiate with a view that even those issues where you stand
to gain would be negotiated fully in a given time frame," he said. "The
time-frames will merely be guiding lines because arguments that take place go
beyond those time-frames.

"They are arguments not just of ourselves. They are arguments even of the
bodies that we represent. The bodies that we represent some of which, you know,
are prone to criticizing us much more than to accepting our decisions and so you
have got to explain also."

Flanked by the two MDC leaders, Prime Minister Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime
Minister Arthur Mutambara, leader of the smaller faction of the MDC, President
Mugabe said all the parties had made significant gains since the negotiations
started.

"We have made lots of gains all of us really," he said. "We have fulfilled a
much greater area than the area that remains unfulfilled."

Mugabe said Zimbabwe had made strides through the recent announcement
ofnames of people to sit on three commissions to deal with the media,
elections and human rights.

He said the constitution making process was now guaranteed to take off while
he had also signed contracts for new ambassadors.

Regarding his unilateral appointment of Attorney General Johannes Tomana, the
85-year old leader, who was in a jovial mood, said the inclusive government was
too strong to be torpedoed by "one little issue".

"When people stick to one little issue - they want to see Tomana going - that
becomes a big issue. Ah, come on. Does that prevent our government from moving?
This huge government with three bodies! So you get those things you see.

"That is why I say, 'We are not on our own. We have constituencies where our
decisions can be reversed. We have seen some of them being reversed actually by
the (Zanu PF) central committee and congress."

He was referring to the recent Zanu-PF Congress which resolved to bar any
further discussion on the status of central bank governor Gideon Gono, Tomana
and provincial governors all of whom were unilaterally appointed by Mugabe
against the provisions of the GPA which prescribes the collective input of all
the three parties in government.

The Zanu-PF congress also resolved to block the new constitution if it
contained issues that were purportedly designed to reverse the gains of
Zimbabwe's independence.

Although they did not reveal what they discussed, the three leaders said they
were happy with the progress made so far in implementing the GPA.

Tsvangirai also said the parties were striving to conclude the negotiations
saying he was also being "roasted" by his followers.

"We have got constituencies and we get roasted sometimes when we try to
explain, 'No, this has not happened because of this'," said the MDC leader.

"They tell me, 'You are making excuses. We want this concluded yesterday' and
I can understand the frustrations and the anxiety sometimes but we are in the
driving seat and we want to make sure that this is an irreversible process."

Tsvangirai said the process was still ongoing, saying the leaders would not
be pressurized their negotiators into a conclusion.

"On the current negotiations," he said, "I am sure that we give our
negotiators the time to conclude because the danger is that if you interfere
with the negotiations at implementation stage, why did you give those
negotiators the mandate to negotiate.

"They should tell us where they are disagreeing, they should conclude the
work they have concluded then we can endorse or say with don't agree with it.
That is where we are now.

"I hope that it is not going to be long before we put this aside. We want to
go to 2010 not always being confronted by the outstanding issues. I think the
outstanding issues must be where is the food on the table, where is the real
change for the people and I hope that our negotiators will expedite."

He said it will not take long before the outstanding issues are dealt with
fully.

On his part, Mutambara said the problems bedeviling Zimbabwe were not
insurmountable.

He urged Zimbabweans to amplify the successes that have so far been
registered by the 10-month old inclusive government as opposed to perceived
differences.

"We have made progress in this country, let us celebrate our successes, let
us give this inclusive government its credit where credit is due, acknowledge
the progress, and acknowledge that we have moved and we are building a new
Zimbabwe. At the same time, acknowledge that there are still challenges," he
said.

"They are not insurmountable. They are not the issue. The issue is to say
when we do the analysis on balance, Zimbabwe is moving forward but we don't want
Zimbabweans to be complacent and be under an illusion that there are no
challenges.

"A problem realized is a problem half solved. We must appreciate that this is
the only show in town. As Zimbabweans, we have made a decision to work together.
The Zimbabweans have said we can do more in an inclusive government than any
other alternative.

"So once we realize that the inclusive government is the best option for our
country to move forward, we should do all that we can to make sure that we fully
and completely consummate the GPA and go into the business of transforming this
country."

Like Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara were in a jovial mood.

Meanwhile, reports say the parties have since resolved 16 out of the 27
outstanding issues as of the time they were directed to resume their talks by a
SADC troika summit early last month.

The parties are still deadlocked on the appointments of Gono, Tomana and the
provincial governors, as well as Mugabe's refusal to swear in MDC's treasurer
general Roy Bennett as Zimbabwe's deputy Minister of Agriculture.

Mugabe sees 'tremendous improvement' in Zimbabwe

By Godfrey Marawanyika
(AFP) - 2 hours ago

HARARE - President Robert Mugabe said Zimbabwe has
seen "tremendous improvement" under its unity government, despite food giant
Nestle's shock decision Wednesday to suspend dairy operations in the
country.

Speaking at a rare joint press conference, his one-time rival
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai insisted that there was no going back on
the power-sharing arrangement, despite a yearlong dispute over a raft of
political appointments.

"There is tremendous improvement to the
political environment. People have heeded our calls for peace," Mugabe
said.

"We are very happy. We hope that next year will be much better. We
are forging ahead," he said.

"Only yesterday we were boxing each
other," Mugabe added. "We found each other, we are talking to each other,
drinking together and we are very happy."

Mugabe, who has ruled since
independence from Britain in 1980, was forced into the power-sharing pact
with Tsvangirai after disputed elections last year.

But the
government has been hamstrung over disputes on naming the central bank
governor and the attorney general, who is pressing a terrorism case against
a top Tsvangirai aide.

Despite the disagreements, Tsvangirai said the
government would not collapse.

"We are in the driving seat and the
process can't be reversed," he said.

"The inclusive government, after 10
months, has been receiving a lot of support from amongst Zimbabweans across
the political divide. This is quite heartening," he added.

But
Tsvangirai voiced concern over food giant Nestle's decision to shut down
temporarily its dairy operations in Zimbabwe, apparently over a dispute on
buying milk from a Mugabe family farm.

Nestle in October stopped
buying milk from the Mugabe farm, which was seized from white farmers under
his controversial land reforms.

The Swiss-based food giant, the world's
largest, said Zimbabwean government officials and police made an
"unannounced visit" to the plant on Saturday, forcing staff to take delivery
of a tanker of milk from non-contracted suppliers.

Two Nestle
Zimbabwe managers were also questioned by the police and released without
charges the same day, it added.

"Since under such circumstances normal
operations and the safety of employees are no longer guaranteed, Nestle
decided to temporarily shut down the factory," the company said in a
statement.

Tsvangirai said that he believed the firm had over-reacted,
but that a solution would be found.

"Shutting down a plant... I think
it's something that needs to be looked at. This is an over-reaction which is
totally unnecessary," Tsvangirai said.

"I am sure the minister of
industry, who is responsible, is talking to the directors (of Nestle), is
talking to all the concerned stakeholders and that a solution will be found.
So that it operates and even expands," he said.

Mugabe, who was at the
press conference with Tsvangirai, said nothing about Nestle's decision.

The food group
announced in a statement on Wednesday that it was shutting the plant
temporarily, saying it can no longer guarantee the safety of its employees.
This came after staff at the site were forced on Saturday to accept a milk
delivery, believed to be from Grace Mugabe's Gushungo dairy estate, under
instruction from two government ministers and police officials. That same
day two Nestlé executives were briefly detained and questioned by police, in
an effort to force the company to take the milk.

"Two Nestlé Zimbabwe
managers were questioned by the police and released without charges the same
day," Nestle said in a statement. "Since under such circumstances, normal
operations and the safety of employees are no longer guaranteed, Nestlé
decided to temporarily shut down the facility."

Agriculture Minister
Joseph Made and Youth Minister Saviour Kasukuwere, who were accompanied by a
senior police officer, arrived on Nestlé Zimbabwe premises on Saturday. It's
understood that they forced staff to accept the milk delivery after
accompanying the two Nestlé officials to a nearby police station. Apparently
the ministers threatened the Nestlé officials, saying their refusal to take
the milk could result in Nestlé Zimbabwe's closure or arrest of senior
officials. The also accused Nestlé of placing 'sanctions' against Zimbabwe
by not accepting the milk.

Gushongo dairy farm, formerly Foyle Farm, was
seized at the height of the land 'reform' programme after a sustained
campaign of violence, and handed to Grace Mugabe. In October this year
Nestlé ended its commercial ties to the dairy estate, following
international criticism of the business deal that saw the food giant buying
more than ten percent of its local milk from the Mugabes. The deal outraged
human rights groups who accused Nestlé of funding repression by doing
business with the First Lady and dubbed her produce 'blood milk'.

But
Nestlé's decision to stop doing business with the Mugabes has resulted in
growing intimidation over the past two months. Shortly after the group's
decision, the company's bank accounts were frozen by the Reserve Bank in
what was described as a 'petty retaliation'. That move was reversed days
later, but it was only the start of the harassment and intimidation that has
now led to the temporary closure of Nestlé's Zimbabwe branch.

In
October a group of youths tried to force the branch to buy more than 20 000
litres milk from Gushongo Estate. It's understood the group, led by Youth
Minister Kasukuwere and his ZANU PF politburo member brother Tongai, tried
to force Nestlé staff to offload the milk tanker that had been transported
from Gushongo farm. But after a four hour stand-off, including intense
debate and negotiations with Nestlé Zimbabwe management, the tanker and the
ZANU PF youth group were turned away.

A local black empowerment group
then lashed out at Nestlé a week later, saying the international group
should be forced to sell its Harare branch to local black Zimbabweans if it
refused to renew its relationship with Mrs Mugabe. The Affirmative Action
Group (AAG), whose members are reported to be closely linked to ZANU PF,
said Nestlé's refusal to buy milk from Gushungo farm was part of a 'foreign
regime change agenda'. The group added that the international firm should
not be allowed to continue 'embarrassing' the president's
family.

Nestlé's decision Wednesday, to temporarily shut its Zimbabwe
branch, is now being described as a setback for the already flailing unity
government, because of the implications it has for future foreign
investment. The Finance Ministry, since the government's formation in
February, has been trying to convince foreign donors that their investments
in Zimbabwe would be safe. But the situation with Nestlé is likely to
further dissuade investors from a relationship with Zimbabwe, where it's
clear that any investment carries a high risk.

Economic analyst
Bekithemba Mhlanga agreed that the move is a setback for the government,
explaining the different implications the decision has. He first explained
that the move further damages Zimbabwe's already tainted reputation as a
safe investment haven, saying "there is no investor anywhere who will invest
if they cannot even protect their personal interests on the ground, such as
staff." Mhlanga added that the move also highlights how divided the
so-called unity structure is because of the 'conflicting signals' from
within the government.

"On one hand you have Gorden Moyo (Minister of
State in the Prime Minister's Office) calling for sanctions on businesses to
be lifted, and Finance Minister Tendai Biti saying investments will be safe,
but on the other hand you have ministers who are actively threatening
businesses because of their political loyalties," Mhlanga said.

Moyo
has called for the lifting of sanctions from 40 businesses on the European
Union's targeted sanctions list, saying they need to be given a chance to
recover economically.

Biti meanwhile told a conference in the UK last
week that Zimbabwean expatriates need to start assisting the country's
economic recovery, saying their investments would be safe under the unity
government.

Nestle
closure in Zimbabwe an 'over-reaction': PM

HARARE (AFP) - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said Wednesday that
food giant Nestle had over-reacted in suspending its operations in Zimbabwe,
after authorities forced it to buy milk from "non-contracted"
suppliers.

"Shutting down a plant... I think it's something that needs to
be looked at. This is an over-reaction which is totally unnecessary,"
Tsvangirai told a news conference.

"I am sure the minister of
industry, who is responsible, is talking to the directors (of Nestle), is
talking to all the concerned stakeholders and that a solution will be found.
So that it operates and even expands," he said.

The shutdown apparently
stems from a dispute on buying milk from a farm owned by the family of
President Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's long-time ruler who is now in a unity
government with Tsvangirai.

Mugabe, who was at the press conference with
Tsvangirai, said nothing about Nestle's decision.

Nestle in October
stopped buying milk from the Mugabe farm, which was seized it from white
farmers under his controversial land reforms.

The Swiss-based food giant,
the world's largest, on Wednesday said Zimbabwean government officials and
police made an "unannounced visit" to the plant on Saturday, forcing staff
to take delivery of a tanker of milk from non-contracted
suppliers.

Two Nestle Zimbabwe managers were also questioned by the
police and released without charges the same day, it added.

"Since
under such circumstances normal operations and the safety of employees are
no longer guaranteed, Nestle decided to temporarily shut down the factory,"
the company said in a statement.

Zim Parties
Agree to 16 Issues, 11 Still Remaining

Harare, December 23, 2009 - The
three Zimbabwean parties signatory to the Global Political Agreement (GPA)
that brought about the unity government, have resolved 16 out of the 27
outstanding issues.

They have agreed on the implementation
mechanism for the resolved issues but remain deadlocked on central issues.
The key issues that remain unresolved include appointments of provincial
governors, the appointments of the Reserve Bank Governor, Attorney General
and the swearing in of deputy agriculture minister Roy Bennett, who is
currently facing terrorism charges.

The Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has said that if no agreement
is reached by 15 January 2010, these issues will be referred to the Southern
African Development Community (SADC) for arbitration.

Negotiations
stalled on Monday night, after negotiators from ZANU PF and MDC-M pushed to
resume final discussions in the New Year saying that they had other
commitments.

Some of the time-lines for the implementation of the agreed
positions contained in a principal document by the three principals, seen by
RadioVOP, include reform of the public media which will start with the
transformation of ZBC into a proper public broadcaster with an independent
board appointed by President Robert Mugabe in consultation with Prime
Minister Tsvangirai. The board shall be accountable to parliament. This
should be done by the end of February.

The Mass Media Trust will be
reconstituted and comprise seven trustees, three each from ZANU PF and MDC-T
and one from MDC-M.

On rule of law, the three principals will together
engage the commissioner general of police Augustine Chihuri and the Attorney
General Johannes Tomana to comply with provisions of articles 11 and 13 of
the Global Political Agreement (GPA).

They also agreed on a land
audit by an inclusive land commission established in terms of the Inquiry
Act. "An inter-party

On Constitutional Amendment No.19, it was agreed to
recognise and gazette, by mid-January, the version that was passed by
Parliament. structure to be established to monitor and coordinate land
commission," the document says. The land commission should be established by
15 February.

Zimbabwe
Unity Government Crisis Resolutions on Back Burner Until New
Year

Negotiators for the president, prime minister and and deputy prime
minister were said to have declined to meet a directive by their party
chiefs to produce a comprehensive report on progress on outstanding issues
in 48 hours

Blessing Zulu | Washington 22 December 2009

Though
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
agreed this week on the composition of electoral, human rights and media
commissions, negotiations over the balance of the outstanding issues that
have destabilized Zimbabwe's unity government virtually since its inception
have been put on hold until January, political sources said.

Negotiators
for the president, prime minister and and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara, the three principals in the power-sharing government, were said
to have declined to fulfill a directive by their party chiefs to produce a
comprehensive report on progress on such issues within 48 hours.

Economic
Planning Minister Elton Mangoma and Regional Integration Minister Priscilla
Misihairambwe Mushonga, respectively negotiators for the Movement for
Democratic Change formations headed by of Mr. Tsvangirai and Mutambara,
confirmed the suspension of the negotiations through the holidays but
declined to comment further referring all questions to their
principals.

The political party negotiating teams were said to have cited
fatigue, having been wrangling over a large agenda of issues since late
November.

The three principals for their part are under intense pressure
from South African President Jacob Zuma, mediator in Zimbabwe on behalf of
the Southern African Development Community, to conclude the discussions
before Christmas.

Sources said Zuma wanted a full report on the talks
Wednesday. Zuma foreign affairs adviser Lindiwe Zulu told VOA that while
South African facilitators can't determine when negotiators can meet, but
feel it is important talks be concluded expeditiously for the well-being of
the Zimbabwean people.

Negotiators must still come to grips with the most
divisive issues on the agenda including the leadership of the Reserve Bank
and the Office of the Attorney general, and the swearing-in of promised MDC
provincial governors.

The Tsvangirai MDC formation has resolved to refer
the matter back to SADC by January 15 if the outstanding issues are not
settled by then. The party's spokesman, Nelson Chamisa, said this position
has not changed.

London-based political analyst Innocent Chofamba Sithole
told VOA Studio 7 reporter Blessing Zulu that the hardening of positions by
the three parties in the power-sharing arrangement makes it hard to achieve
compromises.

SADC Tribunal
goes on trial

The SADC Tribunal is
a promising institution of international justice for the entire region. But
without real political will, does the tribunal -- or SADC itself -- really
matter?

In November of 2008 Ben Freeth and a motley crew of white
Zimbabwean farmers, who took their government to the Southern African
Development Community Tribunal in Windhoek in an effort to win back their
land, wept in open court when they heard the judgment passed
down.

After months of stops and starts, the court unanimously found that
the applicants who stood before them had been denied access to courts in
their own country and that fair compensation was payable for the
expropriated land. And, by a majority of four to one, the tribunal also
ruled that the farmers had been discriminated against on the grounds of
race. All of which added up to a clear violation of the SADC
treaty.

One of the farmers, red-faced and cadaverous, said to a member of
the legal team in disbelief: "I never thought, from black judges in Africa,
we would get this kind of sympathy and understanding."

"It was quite
a moment," says advocate Jeremy Gauntlett, who represented the 79 farmers in
the application to the tribunal, which included Freeth and his 75-year-old
father-in-law Mike Campbell, whose story is making the international
documentary rounds as Mugabe and the White African, which has been
shortlisted for an Academy Award.

"These are African judges who
experienced colonialism and discrimination -- the sharp end it. But they
have the integrity to rise above it and to hold, uncompromisingly, that it's
racial discrimination to take white farmers' lands and not put [land reform]
on the basis of, for example, who is an absentee land owner or who is not
farming it properly."

All this came down, of course, on the unlikely
corner of Robert Mugabe Avenue and Banhof Street, just down the road from
the British High Commission and opposite the police department, where SADC's
most promising institution proudly sits, flags of the region adorning the
stately building in the centre of Windhoek.

Since 2007, the SADC
Tribunal has been receiving cases on disputes between natural and legal
persons and their countries in the region, as well as overseeing the
jurisdiction of the SADC institution and acting as its advisory body. In
session three times a year, the tribunal boasts some of the region's top
judges, including Justice Dr Luis Antonio Mondlane of Mozambique and Justice
Ariranga Govindasamy Pillay, the former chief justice of Mauritius, who
currently serves as the tribunal's president.

Despite its short lifespan,
the tribunal has already made some substantive rulings against the region's
rogue government. The court has handed down judgment, not only in the
Campbell application, but has also ruled in favour of 71-year-old Luke
Tembani, one of Zimbabwe's first indigenous farmers, whose land -- which he
has successfully farmed for the past 26 years -- is under threat in what
Gauntlett calls a Kafkaesque scenario where the land bank continually
recalculated wildly fluctuating interest on his bond, then attempted to
seize the land in realisation of the bizarre debt without even bothering to
go to court.

And next year -- very likely in April, when Zanu-PF will be
celebrating 30 years since liberation -- the tribunal is set to hear the
case of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum vs Government of
Zimbabwe.

The application has been brought on behalf of 12 Zimbabweans,
who, their domestic court found, had been subject to violence and torture --
including beatings with everything from batons to booted feet, as well as
bullets that caused spinal injury and paraplegia and the death of a
breadwinner, all courtesy of the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the Zimbabwe
National Army. But though final judgments -- and cost awards -- were granted
by Zimbabwe's court, the government won't honour the rulings. Their only
outlet for justice now is the tribunal.

But foreign courts -- or for
that matter regional or international bodies -- don't matter much to Robert
Mugabe. Not long after the Campbell judgment, the Zimbabwean head of state
said at his birthday celebrations that the tribunal's rulings were
"nonsense" and "of no consequence". "The few remaining white farmers should
vacate their farms as they have no place here," Mugabe said. "Our land
issues are not subject to the SADC tribunal."

And no one appears to be
willing to force Mugabe's hand on the issue. According to the tribunal's
registrar, Justice Charles Mkandawire, the decision on the Campbell case was
submitted to SADC more than a year ago and, despite requesting that the
recommendations on the case be expedited, the tribunal still awaits a
decision from SADC on how to proceed.

"Any court would be concerned with
noncompliance of its decisions," says Mkandawire.

"It's not just
about Zimbabwe. International law enforcement depends on the political will
of the member states -- and that sits with the SADC summit. They have to
monitor the enforcement mechanism. Even as the tribunal, our eyes are toward
the summit. We have done our part and we cannot enforce our own
decisions."

A SADC secretariat spokesperson would confirm only that it is
still in the process of making arrangements to hear the matter.

So,
despite the dramatic rulings against the government of Zimbabwe, like all
international and regional courts, the tribunal cannot enforce its own
judgment; there's no sheriff in town to pull up and hold anyone
accountable.

Like President Jacob Zuma's Zimbabwe mediation team, the
decision on what to do next -- and the political will to back it all up --
ultimately lies with SADC.

The Campbell decision appears to be yet
another Zimbabwe question placed at the feet of the Southern African
community; another weighty, complicated, messy matter begging to be
addressed by a reluctant region.

Courting justiceThough established
in 1992 with the formation of SADC, the tribunal's members were only
appointed at its summit in Gaborone in August 2005. By November 2006,
Mkandawire was sworn in as registrar at a ceremony in Windhoek. His job: to
set up and oversee the day-to-day administration of the court. It's been
slow going with a lean staff and an even leaner budget. But, in the next few
months, if all goes ahead as planned, there will be a total of 16 full-time
employees at tribunal headquarters -- excluding the 10 judges who rule on
matters -- who will ensure that the cases that are starting to trickle in
from across Southern Africa see their day in court.

Ten justices have
been appointed from the member states, with a minimum of three sitting
judges required for rulings. Justices from Angola, Botswana, Malawi,
Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and even one
Justice Antonia Guvava of Zimbabwe, form the current membership of the
tribunal, five of whom sit as regular members. To ensure its independence,
the SADC treaty outlines that members agree not to seek or receive
instructions from any member states or from any authority external to
SADC.

Financial constraints and member judges who continue to work in
their home countries and fly into Windhoek only to hear scheduled cases are
just some of the challenges the tribunal faces. That it's an entirely new
system is another. The fact is that most -- even those in the legal
profession and those working in human rights arenas in the region, where the
tribunal is most needed -- aren't aware that it exists.

Mkandawire
says he's working to get the word out. The website, relationships with
universities and outreach to human rights and legal groups in the region
mark some progress in this endeavour.

Hurdles aside, Max du Plessis,
professor of international law at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, says the
court is making huge strides.

"It has surprised commentators, academia
and court watchers by ­virtue of the fact that in a short space of time it
has opened its doors, accepted cases and has given important judgments in
relation to SADC human rights issues, in particular in respect to Zimbabwe,"
Du Plessis says. "And it has done so in a way that has served the interests
of justice in SADC. The force of its decisions can be seen from the response
we have witnessed in the Zimbabwean government."

And the reality is
that the majority of cases brought to the tribunal so far have been filed
against the government of Zimbabwe -- most of them brought by Gauntlett. ("I
wouldn't want you to think I'm Florence Nightingale alone in an unlit ward
in a hospital -- there are a lot of other people involved in this," he
says.) Gauntlett believes others in Zimbabwe aren't using the tribunal
because, quite frankly: "The legal profession in Zimbabwe is hammered.
People lack funding, they lack morale, they simply lack hope. And the idea
of taking it further doesn't occur to them."

"The tribunal has no
jurisdiction over Zimbabwe," Chinamasa told the Zimbabwe Times. "We are not
. party to the (SADC tribunal) protocol and it has no jurisdiction over
Zimbabwe. The judges are not SADC."

In September the Zimbabwean
government and Chinamasa were criticised by the African Bar Associations and
Rule-of-law Institutions, which include the Southern African Development
Community Lawyers' Association and the African Regional Forum of the
International Bar, when they met in Arusha, Tanzania. In a communiqué they
"observed with alarm the current efforts of the government of Zimbabwe . to
cause SADC to dismantle a sub-regional judicial organ -- the SADC
tribunal."

But Du Plessis says that Zimbabwe's efforts to disregard the
tribunal's decision says more about its weight in the region than anything
else. "That Zimbabwe is purporting to ignore the tribunal's decision speaks
volumes. Of course, had the decision gone in its favour, Zimbabwe would be
celebrating the tribunal's judgment."

Currently, the Zimbabwean High
Court is sitting with an application that was brought at the end of November
on behalf of the 79 farmers involved in the Campbell case, which seeks to
register the tribunal ruling there, in an attempt to force the government to
recognise the judgment. The case was adjourned in "due course" and a ruling
on it isn't expected for months.

But Zimbabwean policy analyst Deprose
Muchena says the massive indecision from the region and its resolve to keep
its distance from Zimbabwe has put SADC in serious danger of losing its
credibility as a regional body.

"If you close all options to regional
descent, you are forcing people to seek other avenues," Muchena says,
pointing to alternatives for law and justice that lie outside Southern
Africa, such as the African Union, which would effectively make the
institution itself inconsequential in matters of its own
community.

"The SADC leaders are busy ­fiddling with their fingers in
painful dignity," he says, as Zimbabwe erodes on all fronts.

SADC's
delay is not stopping Gauntlett. On the back of the tribunal award, he plans
to register the ruling not just in Harare, but in Pretoria as well. If
Zimbabwe doesn't pass the judgment into its own domestic law and enforce it
there -- which isn't likely to happen as it would reverse the contentious
land reform issue -- the country's assets in South Africa can be attached to
secure the costs awarded by the tribunal. Things like, say, the Zimbab­wean
government's aircraft and non-diplomatic buildings in South Africa. "We do
this sort of thing all the time when enforcing foreign awards and
judgments," he says.

But even if Gauntlett manages to garner some
costs for his clients, it probably won't be courtesy of the government of
Zimbabwe via the SADC tribunal.

"You can have the most wonderful
highfalutin court in the world but if the government controls the police and
the army -- well, just think about that in terms of a country," says
Gauntlett. "You have a situation where the government is controlling all the
other levers of the state and the courts are left helpless and hopeless. And
the trouble with the system in Zimbabwe itself is that ultimately when you
corrupt your judiciary, then what you are left with is just wood panelling
and horse-hair wigs."

It seems only SADC has the power to save its
tribunal -- and perhaps even itself -- before it becomes yet another corpse
in Mugabe's carnage.

In need of divine intervention?Growing up on a
small Catholic mission in the north of Malawi, Charles Mkandawire wanted to
be priest. But he ended up ditching his schooling at a Catholic seminary,
changing direction and heading instead to the University of Malawi, where he
received his law degree in 1986.

Right out of school, Mkandawire joined
the Malawi judiciary as a resident magistrate, winding his way up through
the legal ranks as registrar for his country's high court as well as its
supreme court of appeal. He started up Malawi's labour court in 1998,
becoming a high court judge in 2004.

It was in November 2006 that he was
sworn in as registrar of the SADC tribunal, where his mandate was to set up
what most in his profession agree is the region's most promising legal
institution. Mkandawire now runs the administrative and financial aspects of
the new body, registering cases and overseeing their research and screening,
to be sure that the applications comply with SADC law and
protocol.

It's an awesome responsibility and one Mkandawire does not take
lightly, acutely aware of the tribunal's legal importance in the region as
well as its key position in the success of SADC as an
institution.

"You cannot have development, you cannot have proper
regional integration if you do not entrench the rule of law, democracy and
human rights," Mkandawire says.

"The tribunal is a catalyst for this
integration. It's an important instrument in obtaining the objectives of
SADC. Whether one likes it or not, in the process of integration, disputes
are bound to arise and these disputes have to be interpreted by an impartial
body. Later on these cases will involve member states themselves."

As
his team in Windhoek prepares for a new year where it will ratchet up its
capacity, Mkandawire's court just might need some divine intervention to
muster up the political will to enforce its own judgments.

Gwezere’s
lawyer pays bail, release awaited

Lawyer Alec Muchadehama, who represents the abducted and tortured
MDC Transport Manager Pascal Gwezere, has told Newsreel they paid his bail
on Wednesday and now await his release by prison guards. By 1pm the bail had
been paid and a ‘Warrant of Liberation’ issued and taken to prison warders
at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison. At around 6pm (Zimbabwean time)
Muchadehama told us prison warders were still processing the paper work.
Meanwhile Gwezere’s wife and several relatives, friends and party supporters
were waiting for him outside.

On Monday Supreme Court Justice Wilson
Sandura threw out an appeal by the Attorney General, who had challenged the
granting of bail to Gwezere by the High Court. This meant Gwezere was
supposed to be immediately released. But because court staff closed early on
Monday, and Tuesday was the Unity Day holiday, Muchadehama said they only
managed to pay the US$500 bail on Wednesday. Other bail conditions state
that Gwezere has to report to Harare Central Police Station twice a week, on
Mondays and Fridays.

At the end of October Gwezere was abducted from his
Mufakose home by state security agents and his whereabouts unknown for
several days, before he was eventually brought to court. He said he was
repeatedly tortured by his abductors during interrogations. As a result he
sustained injuries to his head, feet, leg and back. Despite the severe
torture he was denied medical treatment until a magistrates court intervened
ordering that he be allowed to see a doctor. Even then the state still went
on to block him from seeing a private doctor, insisting he see one provided
by the state.

Mugabe’s regime is accusing Gwezere of breaking into the
Pomona Army Barracks and stealing firearms, a charge that has already been
highly discredited. A second charge, that he underwent military training in
Uganda, was completely dismissed by the Magistrates Court because there was
no evidence. In November defence lawyer Muchadehama asked the court to take
a ‘practical’ view of the case and question how a man from the street could
go into an army barracks and steal guns.

With the state failing to
provide credible evidence in the case they have simply resorted to their
usual tactics - legal technicalities and delays to keep Gwezere locked up.
For example in November, when Justice Charles Hungwe granted him bail, the
state immediately invoked a draconian section of the Criminal Procedure and
Evidence Act to suspend the bail. The Attorney General then went to the
Supreme Court trying to have the bail set aside arguing it was ‘erroneous
and misdirected’.

Zimbabwe needs $45
billion for economy: minister

Zimbabwe
needs $45 billion (R348 billion) to return its economy to peak levels seen
more than a decade ago, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said
Wednesday.

But he warned that doubts over the future of the strained
unity government were hampering the still fragile economic
recovery.

"About $45 billion is required to get the country back to its
peak level of 1996-97," Biti told reporters at the launch of a three-year
economic blueprint.

Zimbabwe's economy has contracted every year
since 1997, but is expected to grow 4.7 percent this year, after the local
currency was abandoned in January and the unity government took office the
following month.

President Robert Mugabe, who has ruled since
independence in 1980, was forced into the power-sharing arrangement with
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai following disputed elections last
year.

The deal, known as the Global Political Agreement (GPA), remains
shaky due to a raft of disputes over key jobs and claims that Tsvangirai's
supporters remain the target of official persecution.

"The
uncertainty of the Global Political Agreement is affecting the performance
of the economy," said Biti, a top aide to Tsvangirai.

"If it was not for
the uncertainty of the GPA, we would easily achieve growth rates of 11-15
percent over the next three years."

The economy is currently forecast
to grow by seven percent next year to $5.6 billion, with inflation seen at
5.1 percent.

That compares to inflation estimated last year in multiples
of billions.

Zimbabwe needed to conduct a land audit, he said, after
Mugabe's violent land reforms forced white farmers off their land over the
last decade, resettling the properties with blacks who received no official
title deeds.

After the land reforms, the agriculture-based economy was
decimated and Zimbabwe became dependent on international food
aid.

"Security of tenure and production is important for our agriculture,
and production is still limping because of the political instability which
is affecting performance of the economy," Biti said.

Mugabe and
Tsvangirai have made progress this week, naming commissions to oversee
reforms in media, elections and human rights, meeting a key requirement of
the power-sharing deal.

They were set to meet later Wednesday on the
hotly disputed posts of attorney general and central bank governor. - AFP

Zimbabwe’s
‘blood diamonds’ go on sale

Harare : Diamonds from the disputed
Chiadzwa/Marange fields in Zimbabwe are set to hit international markets
this month after concerted efforts by human rights campaigners failed to
stop the trade, officials said.

“The much-anticipated sales of diamonds
from the Chiadzwa/Marange diamond fields are expected to start before the
end of this month,” said Robert Mhlanga, chairman of Mbada Diamonds, which
has controversially been authorized to mine diamonds in the area without any
tender procedures being followed as expected by many.

Mbada is a
50/50 joint venture between the Zimbabwe government and the private
Grandwell Holdings. Human rights groups and an international diamond
marketing consortium have called for a ban on sales of diamonds from
Marange. They cite the alleged murder of more than 250 people, enslavement
and displacement of 4 000 families in a brutal operation known as Hakudzokwi
(Operation No Return) as government seized control of an area owned by
African Consolidated Resources (ACR) last year. ACR has filed an appeal
against the takeover spearheaded by senior Zanu PF officials, including vice
president Joyce Mujuru and her husband, Solomon, defence minister Emmerson
Mnangagwa, police and military chiefs. The rights groups, including the
powerful US-based Human Rights Watch, had their campaign for a total ban
torpedoed when the Kimberly Process (Diamond) Certification System recently
refused to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe.

Mbada’s Mhlanga said, “Sales
of the precious and industrial minerals could have started by now had Mbada
Diamonds not been stopped from mining by the Environmental Impact Assessment
authorities.” Mining had only started at the beginning of
December.

Figures of potential output were not given. However, before the
mining was stopped, the ZMDC produced 50 000 to 60 000 carats a week.

Dangerous
Zimbabwe Prisoners On The Loose

Masvingo, December 23, 2009 - About 14
dangerous prisoners in the D class category including murderers and serial
rapists escaped from Masvingo remand prison on Monday night while more than
100 who were trying to run away were re-captured after the prison officers
fired warning shots in the air to strike fear in
them.

Although the Masvingo provincial police spokesperson
Inspector Tinaye Matake refused to comment saying he needed more time to
verify the exact number and to get further details of what happened,
RadioVOP is reliably informed that prison officers at the prison have since
been called to give a full account of what transpired.

"We
were all called in the morning (Tuesday) to give account of what happened.
Superintendent Piripiri who is responsible for the station had to rush from
his farm in Kwekwe after being informed that dangerous prisoners had
escaped," an officer told Radio VOP. "We do not know what actually happened
but officers were shocked by the noise last night, after managing to
re-capture about 100 prisoners who were trying to run away. We discovered
that some prisoners were missing."

"Although we do not have
enough evidence, we suspect that it was an inside job. Some prisoners were
heard screaming while others were shouting that they also want freedom.It
seems an average of four prisoners is let free if their relatives or friends
successfully arrange to buy their freedom from some top officers," said
another source.

"I can't give details now because we need to come
up with what actually happened. I will only comment after I manage to get
clear details from the responsible people there," said Inspector
Matake.

Detained
Zimbabwean moved to psychiatric clinic

A 24 year-old Zimbabwean man who has been languishing at an
immigration detention centre in Portsmouth for over a year now, awaiting
deportation, was last week moved to a psychiatric clinic.

There are
fears that Tatenda Jera might be suffering from bouts of depression, anxiety
and general mood disorders. Tatenda came to the UK in 2000 when he fled
Zimbabwe's political troubles.

He got into trouble with UK authorities in
July last year when he was arrested for not paying fines. He accumulated
substantial fines for not paying fares on London's public transport network
in 2008.

When he appeared in court he was sentenced to serve two weeks in
jail. He only managed to serve one week after which he was taken into
custody by the UK border agency for violating his visitor's visa. He
immediately claimed asylum but his applications have been denied three
times.

A fellow Zimbabwean who was detained with Jera at Haslar detention
centre, Victor Chadoka, alerted SW Radio Africa to his
plight.

'Authorities here believe he had fallen into a deep fog of
depression and anxiety. I think the signs were there for all of us to
worry, as he was sleeping excessively, not eating, lethargy and
hopelessness,' Chadoka said.

Experts define depression as a psychiatric
disorder characterized by an inability to concentrate, loss of appetite,
feelings of extreme sadness, guilt, helplessness and hopelessness, and
thoughts of death as a final means of peace and tranquility.

'Tatenda
is a young man who has been in detention for 18 months now and I think being
behind the walls has been a crushing and devastating experience, not only
for him, but his family as well,' Chadoka added.

Chadoka, a well known
cartoonist is also awaiting deportation. He has published on the internet
satirical cartoons denouncing Robert Mugabe and his ZANU PF
regime.

Booming
elephant population wreaks havoc in Zimbabwe

KENNILWORTH // An increasing
elephant population is forcing the animals from wildlife reserves and into
greater contact with people, leading to an economic and environmental crisis
in parts of Zimbabwe where some are calling for greater numbers of the
animals to be culled.

The World Wide Fund for Nature and African Wildlife
Foundation estimate that Zimbabwe has 110,000 elephants, above the optimum
capacity of between 45,000 and 50,000. For communities living next to the
wildlife reserves where the elephants are flourishing, the increased numbers
are proving dangerous, destroying farmland, driving people from their homes
and, at times, trampling people to death.

In Kennilworth, 90km north
of the capital Bulawayo, Relney Nqadini, a villager, has started planting
crops during torrential rains on his plot. But harvests in this area are
dependent not only on how much it rains, but also whether elephants will
spare the villagers' fields.

"In April this year, they ate all my crops,
just as I was about to harvest," said Mr Nqadini. "Days of labour came to
nothing as they [elephants] destroyed everything we had planted. Even if it
rains the way it is doing now, this is not a guarantee for a good
harvest."

The elephants that raid Kennilworth come from the nearby
Debshan Ranch and Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe's largest animal
sanctuary.

"They raid our fields at night," he said. "So we build
bonfires and beat drums to try to scare them away but they soon get used to
the tricks." Another villager in the area, Luke Mupengesi, said: "Sometimes
if we make fires, they get irritable and attack us, so we flee our homes
into the mountains."

When elephants raid their area, villagers seek
help from Bubi rural district council, the only authority that can kill
problem animals in the area. But often, Mr Mupengesi said, council officials
are out of bullets for shooting the animals or fuel to drive to their
hideouts.

The elephant problem in Kennilworth is mirrored in other areas
across Zimbabwe. The elephant population is concentrated in the Hwange,
Gonarezhou and Chizarira national parks, but there are a significant number
in private conservancies.

Morris Mutsambiwa, the director-general of
the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, said the population is rising
by five per cent every year. He said that due to their increasing numbers,
elephants are not only a danger to the environment, human beings and other
wildlife, but to themselves.

Malaysia
IS Zimbabwe, says Zaid

PKR politician Zaid Ibrahim has applauded constitutional
law expert Abdul Aziz Bari for speaking out "about the rotten state of the
rule of law and democracy" in Malaysia.

In a reply by text-message,
he described Abdul Aziz as "a well respected academic and a courageous
one".

pkr egm bangi zaid ibrahim joins pkr event 130609 14Zaid, a former
Umno strongman who crossed to PKR, expressed hope that many will come
forward and be unafraid to speak out for the sake of the
country.

"Nothing will change unless those who know rise up to expose the
vermin (that are) eating and destroying our national institutions and
democratic values," said Zaid (right), once the de facto law
minister.

Last Sunday, Malaysiakini reported Abdul Aziz's comments that
likened the current state of 'lawlessness' in Malaysia to that in
Zimbabwe.

When contacted, political analyst Khoo Kay Peng echoed many of
the concerns expressed by Abdul Aziz.

In particular, he said Umno
should not regard governance of the country as its birth-right, but realise
that it is the people who have given it the mandate to lead.

"The
government is like the board of directors (of a company). The public are the
shareholders who can kick out the directors or sack them at will," said
Khoo.

port klang free zone pkfz auditCautioning BN not to use public
funds "as if this belongs to them", he urged the ruling coalition to hold
dialogues with the people before initiating gigantic projects such as Port
Klang Free Zone.

Commenting on the way funds are disbursed to states held
by the opposition Pakatan Rakyat, Khoo said it is "not healthy for the
federal government to act on its own whims and fancies".

For
instance, it is "totally crazy and against the law" for BN to withhold oil
royalty from Kelantan.

The money has been converted to a 'compassionate
fund' disbursed through the Federal Development Department, which channels
the money to federal agencies in the states
affected.

Institutionalised bullying

Khoo also alluded to
imbalances in governance, with the executive able to strong-arm the
judiciary and legislature with impunity.

He expressed no surprise over
the claim that the BN violates the constitution, noting that there have been
many instances where the federal government has bypassed the supreme law in
making decisions.

y4c ethnic relationship module forum 130307 khoo kay
pengKhoo (left) also said the government has back-tracked on its pledges,
citing how it has reneged on the 1989 peace agreement with the Communist
Party of Malaya.

Bridging
the knowledge divide: Poverty

OPINION: We all want to be rich and free. Human civilisation has
never prepared us to understand the complexity of life and what one needs to
do to escape from poverty.

What is poverty? Poverty can be described
as the condition of not having the means to afford basic human needs such as
health care, nutrition, clean water, clothing and shelter. One can also talk
of relative poverty which refers to the condition of having fewer resources
or less income than others within a society or country or compared to
worldwide averages.

Why are the majority of Africans poor? This is
complex question that requires critical thinking.

For people who
focus on the past, it is easy to blame colonialism and imperialism as the
root cause of poverty in Africa.

It can be argued that poverty can be
traced directly to the consequences of the enterprise that alienated native
Africans from the land of their forefathers.

In making the argument
that poverty in Africa is a historically determined condition one also has
to critically examine what would have happened had colonialism not visited
the continent.

One can legitimately argue that access to land is a
necessary but not sufficient condition to reduce the frontiers of
poverty.

Africa is well endowed with land. The post-colonial experience
so far has not been encouraging in terms of leveraging the land resources
for agricultural production.

There are many African states with vast
tracts of land that are not used to produce food. As a consequence,
agri-tourism is taking root where foreign nationals who can better utilise
land in Africa are acquiring such land for export
production.

Subsistence agriculture is what drives African land use.
Commercial agriculture requires an institutional, financial and human
capital framework that is not part of the native African heritage.

It
is typical that Africans work only four months in a year and spend the rest
of the year consuming what they would have produced.

Rain plays an
important part in determining the viability of subsistence agriculture.
Water harvesting strategies need capital investment and any investment would
require returns.

The Zimbabwean experience is instructive. Here you have
a nation state that gained independence in 1980 after 90 years of white
settler political hegemony.

The white settler political hegemony
started as a commercial project by Cecil John Rhodes, a proud Englishman who
believed in the superiority of English civilisation.

Through Rudd, in
1888, mineral rights were secured and this was followed by the transfer of
the rights to a public company, British South Africa Company (BSAC) that was
supported by a private security company, British South Africa Police
(BSAP).

This private initiative succeeded in converting Zimbabwe into a
colonial state that was governed by a private institution.

The
experiment worked for the settlers who did not see any contradiction between
the colonial project and black civil and economic rights.

At the time, it
was argued that there was no serious commercial mining and agricultural
activities that were interrupted as a consequence of Rhodes'
initiative.

Natives simply could co-exist with the new dispensation.
However, the new dispensation required cheap labour and, therefore, a system
was designed to convert by force native Africans into a new class of
labourers.

The colonial project required a holistic approach to it. It
had to be underpinned by a sustainable business and political
model.

At the outset, the farmers who came to settle organised themselves
into co-operatives that were established to provide support to the
farmers.

The role of the state was to promote and protect the project
through a supportive legal and institutional framework.

One can argue
that the land apportionment arrangement guaranteed white settler success in
agriculture.

If this was the case, then it should be self evident that in
areas where natives have got complete control of land, success in
agriculture should be guaranteed. However, this is not the case.

In
the case of Zimbabwe, when the land reform programme started, an estimated 4
500 commercial farmers were in existence.

Since independence, black
dominance in the production of maize and cotton confused many to conclude
that land reform could produce outcomes superior to the one possible in
which commercial and subsistence agriculture co-existed with each
other.

Commercial agriculture did co-exist with a vibrant subsistence
sector since independence until the land reform gathered
steam.

Commercial agriculture played its role in the broader national
arena where export revenues were generated from farm output.

The role
and vitality of commercial agriculture to the viability of the state was not
readily understood by the practitioners of the programme.

A view was held
that the success scored by peasants could be repeated in commercial farms
forgetting that commercial agriculture is no different from a manufacturing
enterprise that has to operate 7/24.

The disturbance of 4 500
agricultural decision makers in Zimbabwe contributed to a significant
contraction in national output.

What is ironic is that some of the
displaced farmers relocated to neighbouring states and have managed to
demonstrate that their success in Zimbabwe was not necessarily due to their
race alone.

What can Africa learn from the Zimbabwean experience? An
argument has been made that Zimbabwe will never be a colony again suggesting
that even after independence it remained a colony.

Is it the case
that Zimbabwe was ever a colony? The land mass of Zimbabwe did not change
because of colonisation. It remained where it was always.

What merely
happened is that people who were not born in Zimbabwe and who did not look
like natives adopted Zimbabwe as a home.

They had no guarantees from the
mother country and more importantly they did not expect any handouts. They
simply had to make their project work for them.

This required that
they look at farm methods as well as the kind of business model required to
produce the desired outcomes.

We all know that regrettably racism was
part and parcel of the project and its justification was that natives could
not be incorporated into the model because their values, beliefs and
principles were foreign to imported ones.

We have seen what impact the
displacement of 4 500 farmers has had on the Zimbabwean economy and more
importantly on the future of 13 million people.

If the 4 500 farmers had
adopted subsistence farming methods, there is no doubt that the urgency of
the land reform programme would not have taken the form and pace that it
has.

The feeling among policy makers was that if 4 500 farmers can
underpin the viability of the state then democratising access to land would
achieve better results.

This has not happened. Some have sought to
place the blame on sanctions. Instead of frontiers of poverty diminishing we
have seen more Zimbabweans in absolute poverty as a consequence of the land
reform programme to compel us to pause and reflect on what needs to happen
in Africa to reduce poverty.

Does Africa need commercial agriculture?
Definitely! If this is the case, critical thinking needs to be applied in
the quest of poverty alleviation.

We have to learn from our experiences.
Zambia, Nigeria, Mozambique and other countries that have attracted former
Zimbabwean farmers have registered positive growth in farm output while
Zimbabwe continues to associate continued poverty and lack of significant
supply response from the farm sector on targeted sanctions.

Rhodes
was clear on what was required to make his experiment work. He knew that
success of the project would ultimately depend on the creativity and
entrepreneurship of the settlers who were surrounded by a foreign
culture.

It is often easy to advance an argument that indigenisation is a
real and effective remedy to poverty forgetting that business success is a
product not just of asset ownership but other myriad of factors that have to
be put in place before the future of Africa can be secure for its people. -
ZimOnline